How to chop food really fast?

Well, I need to chop potatoes for dinner tonight. I've done it hundreds of times. I was just wondering. Those people on TV that can chop a tomato into 30 pieces in like 5 seconds. HOW?! No seriously, in detail. How?

Practice Practice Practice. When I was working as an assistant in a Kitchen, one of my jobs was veg-prep. By the time I was done with that job I was pretty fast. There really isn't any special technique.

If you're a chef, then you probably cut food so often you can't help but get quick at doing it.

I think any job will let you gain some random skill like this. I could change a dishwasher with lightening speed! But that's not very impressive...

I once cut my finger at work, and the chef put this bandage on and then to cut the bandage he raised this massive kitchen knife up in the air and slammed it down really quickly towards my finger... He stopped just before and then quickly cut the bandage.
Chefs have a sick sense of humour... T_T

Not so sure about chopping potatoes specifically, but for most vegetables, I've found there seem to be two secrets to fast chopping:

1. use a good knife, and one that is large / long enough that you can more or less leave the tip on the chopping board, and just raise the handle end, each time you chop, rather than raising the entire knife. This "rocking" motion should reduce the strain on your wrist, allow you to cut faster, and make it much less likely that the knife will slip when cutting.

2. Keep your hands out of the way! I find it best to place the palm of my left hand (I'm right handed) across the top of the blade for stability (provided you don't have a double edged blade!) and use my right hand to grip the knife handle / actually do the chopping. This way there is really no way that you can cut yourself.

As I said, this may or may not really work so well for potatoes, but it does work great for dicing onions, herbs and many other vegetables. I more or less use a variation of this technique for cutting potatoes as well, but it will probably be necessary to use your "off" hand to hold the potato steady, instead of stabilizing the blade.

I've worked as a chef at several country clubs. You need a kitchen utility knife, a chopping knife, or a small cleaver. I prefer the cleaver for potatoes because many have a slightly sloped edge. You rock the blade back and forth, leaving the far end in place and moving the potatoe. You need a VERY sharp knife. Beyond that it's just practice. I don't recommend trying to go fast if you're not skilled. That large and that shapr a knife WILL take off a finger.

Banned

If you're a chef, then you probably cut food so often you can't help but get quick at doing it.

I think any job will let you gain some random skill like this. I could change a dishwasher with lightening speed! But that's not very impressive...

I once cut my finger at work, and the chef put this bandage on and then to cut the bandage he raised this massive kitchen knife up in the air and slammed it down really quickly towards my finger... He stopped just before and then quickly cut the bandage.
Chefs have a sick sense of humour... T_T

On the chopping hand (!), I prefer a 8" santoku knife , seriously razor sharp. It really depends on whether you want to slice, dice, chop, or mince as to what moves to make.

A rough chop, chunks (like for boiling, or skin on oven roasted rosemary garlic potatoes) I take the victim and make 2 cuts down the length (first cuts her in half lengthwise, second roll the halves a quarter turn) to get the potato into long skinny fourths. Turn and chop into chunks.

Yeah I can do it I've been cooking more and more at work, I think they're training me to replace the other guy whose going to be leaving soon..

So yeah, I can cut a whole head of Romaine in under 30 seconds, and yes you do rock the knife, more like a rock and glide. Very hard to do if you aren't used to holding a knife that way, and I still can't get used to it so often causes hand cramps, but I will get used to it.

If you're a chef, then you probably cut food so often you can't help but get quick at doing it.

I think any job will let you gain some random skill like this. I could change a dishwasher with lightening speed! But that's not very impressive...

I once cut my finger at work, and the chef put this bandage on and then to cut the bandage he raised this massive kitchen knife up in the air and slammed it down really quickly towards my finger... He stopped just before and then quickly cut the bandage.
Chefs have a sick sense of humour... T_T